Free measles catch up vaccinations available from next week

Sarah Courtney,Minister for Health

Free measles catch up vaccinations will be available for eligible Tasmanians from GPs next week, before being rolled out to pharmacies in coming weeks following completion of an approved training program.

As was flagged earlier this year, Tasmanians born during or after 1966 who have not received two measles-containing vaccinations, or had the measles infection, are eligible for a free vaccination. Infants aged 6 to 12 months who are travelling overseas to places where measles is circulating are also eligible.

Public Health experts advise that people born before 1966 are likely to be immune following childhood infection. Most people born after 1994 are likely to have received two doses of measles containing vaccines as a child, under the National Immunisation Program.

Many people born between 1966 and 1994 will not have had measles or received two doses of a measles vaccine, which means up to 15 per cent of these Tasmanians may not be immune.

Due to fragmented childhood immunisation records for many people, anyone who is unsure of their vaccination status is encouraged to receive a booster dose of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine.

Measles is a highly infectious disease, which remains endemic in some countries. This means there is ongoing risk of imported cases from overseas visitors, as well as Australians returning home.

Having pharmacists administer vaccinations will help to improve access for Tasmanians, particularly in regional areas.

The Hodgman majority Liberal Government is committed to protecting Tasmanians, and we have had huge success in our vaccination programs. Our meningococcal vaccination program last year, for example, saw record child immunisation rates in Tasmania, and our public campaigns to encourage Tasmanians to receive a flu shot have been highly successful.

The Report on Government Services released in January this year also confirmed Tasmania is in the top three states nationally for each age cohort with respect to childhood vaccinations, including the best result in Australia for ages 60 to 63 months, rising to 95.5 per cent.

Tasmania this year also became the first state in Australia to allow children aged 10 and over to receive low-cost flu shots in many pharmacies.

Well, unlike many news organisations, we have no sponsors, no corporate or ideological interests. We don't put up a paywall – we believe in free access to information of public interest. Media ownership in Australia is one of the most concentrated in the world (Learn more). Since the trend of consolidation is and has historically been upward, fewer and fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media in our country. According to independent assessment, about 98% of the media sector is held by three conglomerates. This tendency is not only totally unacceptable, but also to a degree frightening). Learn more hereWe endeavour to provide the community with real-time access to true unfiltered news firsthand from primary sources.
It is a bumpy road with all sorties of difficulties. We can only achieve this goal together. Our website is open to any citizen journalists and organizations who want to contribute, publish high-quality insights or send media releases to improve public access to impartial information. You and we have the right to know, learn, read, hear what and how we deem appropriate.Your support is greatly appreciated. All donations are kept completely private and confidential.Thank you in advance!

Mirage News . All timestamps on this site are AEST/AEDT and all times in the articles are local times unless indicated otherwise.

All trademarks and rights are owned by their respective owners. All content is used for news reporting purposes.
For news reporting purposes, we rely on fair use (fair dealing) [1] [2]for textual and media content to keep the public informed on the developments. If you are a person mentioned in the story or you are a copyright holder and believe that any content should be removed, revised or taken down, please contact us. View the disclaimer page here